{"id":266888,"date":"2026-01-31T09:34:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T09:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/266888\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T09:34:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T09:34:34","slug":"ammonia-bearing-compounds-detected-on-europa-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/266888\/","title":{"rendered":"Ammonia-Bearing Compounds Detected on Europa for First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new analysis of archival data from the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) on board NASA\u2019s Galileo spacecraft has revealed the first evidence of ammonia-bearing compounds on Jupiter\u2019s icy moon Europa, offering new clues about its subsurface ocean and recent geological activity.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a><\/p>\n

In this composite image, red pixels mark locations on Europa\u2019s surface where ammonia-bearing compounds were detected; purple indicates no such detection. Image credit: NASA \/ JPL-Caltech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe detection of ammonia (NH3) or ammonia-bearing components (ammonia hydrate, salts, or minerals) on icy planetary bodies in the Solar System is of significant interest for understanding their geology, potential habitability, and astrobiological relevance,\u201d said study author Dr. Al Emran, a researcher at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa, the presence of ammonia or ammoniated species is particularly important for constraining ocean chemistry, assessing habitability, and reconstructing the moon\u2019s early atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmmonia acts as an antifreezer; an abundant presence of this can lower the freezing point of liquid water by up to 100 K and may enable retention of subsurface oceans for icy bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough it remains unclear whether Europa\u2019s subsurface ocean is directly connected to its surface, the detection of ammonia compounds may suggest such a connection, as these materials are unstable in space radiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his new paper<\/a> published in the Planetary Science Journal, Dr. Emran reports the detection of a characteristic ammonia absorption feature at 2.20 microns in near-infrared spectra of Europa\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

The signal was identified in observations from Galileo\u2019s NIMS instrument, which surveyed Europa during flybys in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Ammonia hydrate and ammonium chloride are the most plausible materials responsible for the detected feature.<\/p>\n

Ammonia is unstable under intense space radiation, a property that makes its presence on Europa\u2019s surface significant.<\/p>\n

According to the paper, the survival of ammonia-bearing materials suggests they were transported from Europa\u2019s underground ocean or shallow subsurface to the surface in the moon\u2019s recent geological past, possibly through effusive cryovolcanism or a similar mechanism.<\/p>\n

The analysis also points to broader implications for Europa\u2019s internal structure.<\/p>\n

The presence of ammoniated compounds is consistent with a thinner ice shell and a chemically reduced, high-pH subsurface ocean.<\/p>\n

Ammonia acts as an antifreezing agent, capable of lowering the freezing point of water ice and helping sustain liquid oceans beneath icy crusts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHidden in the data were faint signals of ammonia near fractures on the moon\u2019s frozen surface, through which liquid water containing dissolved ammonia compounds would be expected to rise,\u201d Dr. Emran said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe compounds may have reached the surface through geologically recent cryovolcanism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s because ammonia significantly lowers the freezing point of water, acting as a sort of antifreeze.\u201d<\/p>\n

While ammonia-bearing species have been identified on other icy bodies in the outer Solar System \u2014 including Pluto, Charon, several Uranian moons, and Saturn\u2019s moon Enceladus \u2014 previous attempts to confirm their presence on Europa had produced inconclusive or conflicting results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe detection of ammonia-bearing components in this study provides the first evidence of nitrogen-bearing species on Europa, an observation of considerable astrobiological significance due to nitrogen\u2019s foundational role in the molecular basis of life,\u201d Dr. Emran said.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

A. Emran. 2026. Detection of an NH3 Absorption Band at 2.2 \u03bcm on Europa. Planet. Sci. J 6, 255; doi: 10.3847\/PSJ\/ae1291<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new analysis of archival data from the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) on board NASA\u2019s Galileo spacecraft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[97912,139553,139554,139555,28404,51888,20179,85,46,3955,3442,139556,11704,141,1951],"class_list":{"0":"post-266888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-ammonia","9":"tag-ammonia-hydrate","10":"tag-ammonium-chloride","11":"tag-cryovolcanism","12":"tag-europa","13":"tag-galileo","14":"tag-habitability","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-jupiter","18":"tag-nasa","19":"tag-nims","20":"tag-ocean","21":"tag-science","22":"tag-solar-system"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}